Post-SOTU poll shows disbelief among most voters on Obama claims

Ed MorrisseyPosted at 10:35 am on January 30, 2010

Did Barack Obama sell Americans on his claims of progress in Wednesday night’s State of the Union speech? According to a Rasmussen poll released today, Obama didn’t get a “good, solid B-plus” for honesty. Only a fifth of respondents believed that Obama cut taxes for 95% of Americans, and even Democrats couldn’t believe the “two million jobs saved or created” fantasy:

The president in the speech declared that his administration has cut taxes for 95% of Americans. He even chided Republicans for not applauding on that point. However, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that taxes have been cut for 95% of Americans. Most (53%) say it has not happened, and 26% are not sure. Other polling shows that nearly half the nation’s voters expect their own taxes to go up during the Obama years.

The president also asserted that “after two years of recession, the economy is growing again.” Just 35% of voters believe that statement is true, while 50% say it is false.

Obama claimed that steps taken by his team are responsible for putting two million people to work “who would otherwise be unemployed.” Just 27% of voters say that statement is true. Fifty-one percent (51%) say it’s false. …

As for the claim about two million jobs, 46% of Democrats say it’s true, while 77% of Republicans say it’s not. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 24% say it’s true, and 59% say it’s false.

The “saved or created” Porkulus fable gets some interesting results in the internals. Rasmussen mentions that only a plurality of Democrats believe that, and black voters by an even more anemic 38%, with 47% unsure. The only demographic that has a majority belief in that claim is self-professed liberals, 58% to 18% disbelief. In every age and income demographic, a majority or plurality reject that claim, including those who make less than $20K a year — where many of the potential hires for new jobs would come.

The numbers get worse for Obama on whether he accomplished what he set out to do in his first year. An overwhelming majority of 70% say no, including a plurality of Democrats (49%) and liberals (56%).

Overall, Obama is getting a good, solid F for achievements and honesty, but the SOTU speech did have one salutary effect: it momentarily increased the enthusiasm of Democrats. Before his speech, only 50% of Democrats strongly approved of Obama; in the two polling cycles after SOTU for Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll, that number increased to 65%. However, Rasmussen reports that the approval ratings of Republicans and independents didn’t change at all, which may indicate that Obama has done little to appeal to the center with this effort.